“..I choose One of the Guys.”

The thought process was simple. The mutation allowed him to create a disguise quickly and easily, with no risk of losing his mind. It would be incredibly useful when it came time to escape. If they were chasing down a pale young man and saw one of their own warriors, well, they might not give him a second glance, simply a friendly nod before breaking away from each other to more efficiently chase him down.

And there was a hidden meaning in the statement that it would average his features. If he could lure someone away 100 feet away from anyone else, he would be the average of a sample size of one. In essence, he could steal the identity of anyone he could isolate.

User will be rendered unconscious while Mutation is taking place.

Oh, yeah, this.

“Gah!” Cal choked back a scream as his bones came apart like puzzle pieces, along with his skin, which itched so badly he felt like scraping it off.

This was by far the most comprehensive mutation he’d ever…

Everything went dark.

Cal opened his eyes, and the sunlight streaming into his yurt had only moved by a few inches, no longer than ten minutes.

“Oh, thank the gods,” Cal said, sighing as he sat up. His body and skin looked identical.

Knife-Work has reached Level 5!

Level 5: Boosts handling and sharpness of knives, 25% correction.

+1 Kinesthetics… point value capped, rerouting… All physical stats capped, rerouting… Expanding List of Abilities…

Please choose an ability or mutation from the list of compatible ones.

Save it for a minute. Cal thought, shoving the list aside without paying attention to it.

One of the Guys.

Cal’s body rippled, sending the strangest crawling sensation up his spine. He watched as the ripple crossed his arms and chest multiple times. His skin rapidly turned grey, and his bones creaked, and muscles ached as they contracted, down to slender, feminine limbs.

His breasts stretched and swelled, protruding in front of him, and his cock…

Let’s not overthink this. Cal dragged his attention away from his crotch.

Cal inspected his body, that of a young female Genosian.

Makes sense. The vast majority of the population of this village is women and children, so the average would be female, and young.

Cal ran his tongue over his teeth and accidentally cut it against his brand-new razor-sharp teeth. Despite the pain, he found himself smiling a shark-toothed grin.

Now there’s a fuckin’ disguise.

Cal willed the changes to revert. The last thing he wanted was to get caught shapeshifting, or as a strange woman in the Incha Huala’s tent. The community was small enough that he couldn’t exactly disappear into the crowd. He needed to keep a tight lid on this particular ability.

His bones creaked, skin gained color and unfolded, shoulders widened, teeth dulled, and hips narrowed, all in about ten seconds. The second time around was just as strange, sending shivers up his spine.

He would get used to it, though, if it meant escape.

If you’re done playing with yourself…

Show me the other one.

Please choose an ability or mutation from the list of compatible ones.

Abilities:

Bleeding Strike: 1 Bent. Does what it says. The bleeding will not stop without extreme interference.

Penetrating Strike: 1 Bent. Softens material that comes in contact with the blade. The blade isn’t tougher, everything else is softer.

Edge Lord: 1 Bent. Grants a kinetic field of force that applies an edge to anything for as long as it’s held in the user’s hand. Sharpness dependent on Knife-work level. Anything can be a knife with the right mindset!

MacGuyver: 1 Bent/8hrs Applies a malleable kinetic field to a knife that allows it to be used as virtually any hand-held tool (screwdriver, hammer, saw, socket wrench, tweezers, planer, you name it.)

Invisiblade: 1 Bent. Makes a knife invisible for 1 hour. Careful you don’t cut yourself with it!

Mutations:

Grindstone fingers: Sharpen any blade by running your fingers over the edge.

Blade Body: allows one (1) knifelike object to be absorbed by the body per five (5) levels of Knife Work. Absorbed knives can partially or completely emerge from either palm, or with practice, from other parts of the body. Speed dependent on practice.

May make the user slightly magnetic.

Razor’s Edge: User gives off a passive kinetic field that increases the durability of knives, and raises their sharpness when threatened.

Cal thought about it for a while. Macguyver, whatever that meant, was very appealing to him. He could create simple tools with Splitting, but that was limited, while this particular ability seemed to promise a solution to almost any problem for the price of one Bent.

On the other hand, Blade Body called to him just as strongly. The ability to stow a knife away on his person without cost in terms of Bent was very appealing. Being able to make it grow out of his skin would be very useful in combat. Again, without spending Bent.

With Splitting, he could crudely mimic either ability, it was simply a choice between which one would do more work to guarantee his survival.

Macguyver was a convenience, whose benefits would slowly pile up over time, however it wouldn’t help in a fight, actually costing him Bent that could be used for combat.

Blade Body was specifically for getting him out of a fight alive, a winning card he could keep hidden until he needed it.

Wait. I could carry around an inch-thick steel plate and use Splitting to create tools from it as needed, file, saw, tweezers, pliers, etc. As long as they fit inside the plate. With a simple steel plate, Macguyver would become redundant.

It would still be cheaper than Splitting for tool creation, seeing as he would need to spend Bent every time he wanted to make a new one, but Cal didn’t see himself desperately needing half a dozen specialized tools in a row any time in the future.

Remember to get that plate, he reminded himself.

“I choose Blade Body.” Cal said.

User will be rendered unconscious while Mutation is taking place.

Cal’s entire body began to tingle slightly, feeling almost like he was vibrating…everywhere.

This isn’t that bad at all.

The mutation still knocked him out.

When Calvin woke up, the sun had moved quite a bit further toward the east, dousing his yurt in shadow as the sun passed behind the mountain.

Aoehe was sitting in the corner of the yurt, staring at him.

He didn’t see anything suspicious, did he? Cal thought, with a sudden burst of panic that he ruthlessly smothered, acting nonchalant.

“I wish you hadn’t needed to do that.” He said with a sigh. “Kuetha was a very…polarizing individual. Ah well, these are adult problems. I’ll handle them. You simply need to worry about practice and reaching your full potential guarding my daughter.”

Them constantly speaking about practice made Cal think about the nature of the Chained Spirit ability. The way they spoke about reaching his potential made It seemed as though the spirit couldn’t improve after it was consumed, nor could it degrade.

That didn’t exactly scream living spirit with its own will to him, that said the ability took the creature at it was in a single moment in time – presumably just before death – and replicated that in a soulless entity.

Cal decided to take a risk.

“About that…” Cal said.

“Huh?”

“My Body stats are already the highest they can go and my fighting Skills aren’t far off. I’m…not going to get much better very quickly. The reason I’ve been able to do so well against your people is a lifetime of training. Relative to other people my age, I’m probably going to get worse as they grow into their heightened Body.”

“Huh,” Aoehe gave him a cold, calculating look. “Why would you tell me this?”

“I’ve got a hell of a lot of progress to make with my Mind. You saw what I did to Kuetha?”

“An interesting trick. You are a Maje…no…wizard of Gadvera?”

Ilethans called them sorcerers, Malkenrovians called them Mages, Gadverans, wizards, and Genosians, Maje. But it was all the same thing.

“That was the tip of the iceberg. My Mind has a lot of room to grow. I need to be allowed to regenerate my Bent and practice my spells, or I won’t grow at all. I need to stop drinking the noeula and let my Bent return. I’m not going to get any stronger, physically.”

Aoehe watched him for a moment, carefully deliberating. Cal could see the thoughts bouncing around behind the man’s eyes, weighing his escape against the possibility of earning a powerful wizard summon for his daughter.

“Thank you for telling me this. I will speak to Ella, and after tomorrow’s ceremony, we will tailor a training regime to your situation.” Aoehe stood and nodded to Cal before leaving the room.

Cal relaxed. If the Maje had been lying and was about to have him killed and stuffed in the freezer, Cal couldn’t spot it. for all Cal could tell, he still honestly wanted him as Ella’s Chained Spirit. Which meant either she could loan his copy Bent, or it would have the Bent he died with.

In any case, he had no intention of going through with it, magical love-potion or no.

After Cal recovered from the fight and the mutations, he spent four hours working with leather before he was told to go back to his yurt for the night, his chains dragging behind him. Cal waited until the noise of the village slowed to a crawl, only interrupted by the occasional wails of babies. Lying on the furs, facing the dark roof of the massive tent, he decided it was time to go.

He got one Bent back every fourteen hours, so he had another, bringing him up to four once the Scowling Moon was high overhead, radiating light from its jagged mouth. Enough to do some reconnaissance.

Splitting.

3/10 Bent remaining.

Cal shed the manacles easily, before picking up an errant stick, about a foot and a half long with a little nub at the end. It was too small to do anything meaningful with, so no one bothered to stop him from taking it home.

Sense-grafting

2/10 Bent remaining

He bound his right eye to the nub at the end of the stick and crawled along the floor, holding it on top of his left eyelid to ease discomfort.

Once he was at his doorway, he carefully poked the stick through his doorway, using it to peek around the corner. It’s nice to have the resources to do things properly, Cal thought, spinning the stick slowly to view in all directions before he began creeping out of the yurt.

Sliding through the quiet camp and using the tiny stick to peek around corners, Calvin was able to sneak all the way to Aoehe’s tent, where he could just barely make out a discussion, consisting of harsh whispers.

“I don’t understand, father, why do you wish me to shed blood to the Guya now? Should it not be during the ritual?” he heard Ella’s voice.

“No blood will be shed at the ritual. It will be held privately. Here.” Aoehe said.

Cal very carefully slid the stick into one of the tiny gaps in the leather, giving himself a view of the two figures.

Ella and Aoehe stood in front of a bowl full of glowing green liquid that gave off a strange vapor that seemed…alive?

“You don’t...” Ella said, backing away. “You intend to let him drink the Guya without adding his blood.”

“He’s not one of us, he only needs to serve you. Nothing more. When you are older, you may bond with a real warrior.” Aoehe said.

“I’ll not participate in something so unbalanced,” Ella said, crossing her arms. “Let our Wills decide.”

“You can’t…” Aoehe clenched his fists tightly before calming himself. “The boy is a Maje as well. He has a good reason to hate you, while you feel nothing strongly about him. His Mind will lash out. Best not to take that risk.”

“We will be bonded fairly or not at all.” Ella said, crossing her arms with all the stoic confidence of a rebellious teen. “I intend to honor my role as his Maje.”

“That’s what I was afraid of,” Aoehe said, running a hand over his bald scalp and sighing.

With a snarl, he brought his hand forward again, unleashing a green bolt that lit the darkened yurt as it crossed the distance between them before it slammed into Ella’s chest.

She stood there with her arms crossed, entirely unaffected.

“I’m sorry, daughter, I raised you to be strong willed by necessity, but in some regards, I must be the tyrant and enforce my decisions.” Aoehe turned away and retrieved a knife and bowl beside the green concoction.

No…she wasn’t unaffected… she couldn’t move! The girl continued to stand there, her breasts heaving slightly as she struggled to breath, her eyes flickering to watch her father, who approached her with a small bowl.

“I would prefer you drank the Guya with him tomorrow,” he murmured, making a nick in her forearm that began to bleed into the bowl. “Seeing as how many men we lost, we need every able body, but if you don’t wish to go through with this…then he will fill our bellies, and together we will seek out a situation more to your liking.”

Welp, this is some weird shit, Cal thought to himself. I need a distraction, and I need my blood in that bowl.

Cal dismissed the connection to the nub and left it where it was rather than risk moving it during that intimate moment.

Cal crept over to the banked fire in the center of the village and poked through the embers until he found a live one.

He blew on it until it was white hot. He couldn’t feel any eyes on him, so he changed into a young Gadveran woman.

One of the Guys.

Splitting.

2/10 Bent remaining

One white hot ember became thousands, targeting a yurt that still had a light on inside. In moments, flames began to lick up the side of the leather.

Took some effort. Leather’s not the greatest kindling. In any case-

“FIIIRE!!” Cal shouted in a young woman’s voice. It was the first time he’d heard himself talk in a different form, and it almost stunned him into not moving. So squeaky!

He had to move.

Immediately, Cal dropped low and began scrambling toward Aoehe’s hut, sliding around the side an instant before the Maje himself climbed out the doorflap, glaring at the mounting flames in the distance.

“Damn,” he muttered before running for the fire just as Cal dismissed the mutation’s effects.

Cal wasted no time in jumping into the tent behind him, hardly waiting for the man to leave eyeshot.

Ella’s eyes tracked him from where she was paralyzed, still standing with her arms crossed.

Calvin winked.

He picked up the Maje’s knife and sliced his left palm, dribbling his own blood into the bowl, mixing with hers. In the interest of fairness…

“See you at the ceremony. Boop.” Cal whispered, booping Ella on the nose and giving her paralyzed body a titty-twister on the way out. The veins in her forehead stood out as she watched him leave.

I really hope she doesn’t tell her dad. Probably shouldn’t have done that, but it was impossible not to.

Once that was taken care of, Cal hauled ass back to his yurt. The Maje was sharp and he’d probably check Cal’s yurt the moment the fire was under control. He had to get himself cuffed again and back in bed before that happened.

Cal opened the doorflap and froze.

Dang. Maybe a bit sooner than that, even.

“Did you know the word for ‘arson’ doesn’t exist in our language?” Aoehe asked from a stool in the center of Cal’s yurt.

“I did not know that,” Cal said as a meaty hand clamped down on his shoulder.